textproduct: Amarillo

KEY MESSAGES

Issued at 1248 PM CDT Fri May 8 2026

-Thunderstorms will be possible for the eastern Panhandles on Saturday, with a few storms potentially becoming severe. -There is a potential for some locations to reach 100 degrees in the afternoon by the middle of next week.

SHORT TERM

(This evening through Saturday night) Issued at 1248 PM CDT Fri May 8 2026

For today, still expecting a slow moving cold front to work its way through the combined Panhandles today. Overtaking the northwestern half of the combined Panhandles by noon with the rest of the Panhandles to follow later in the afternoon into early evening. This front will hold temperatures back slightly with the northwest seeing highs in the upper 70s to lower 80s. Across the southeastern Panhandles, afternoon highs are expected to be in the mid 80s to lower 90s. Winds are expected to be on the breezy side behind the front around 10-20 mph, and gusts may be up to 30 mph.

Tomorrow, H85 temperatures are progged to reach the 26 to 27 degrees C range aross central to western half of the combined Panhandles. Leading to afternoon highs well in the 90s for Saturday. A leeside low is to traverse parts of southern KS into NW Oklahoma through the day tomorrow. This feature will bring in dry westerly, downsloping, winds to western portions of the Panhandle aiding in the warm temperatures. This surface low will also bring a cold front in from the north late in the day. If things speed up and the front moves in faster, the northern Panhandles may get afternoon heating shutoff early and see highs in the mid to upper 80s instead of 90 or 91. A potential psudo- dryline, or tongue of surface moisture, may form somewhere in the east and help create an environment for severe storms. However, confidence remains low for the severe potential as this better surface moisture may form in the eastern Panhandles and quickly move into western OK. Moisture supply is not looking the greatest for storms, especially at the surface. Some just in time moisture at H7 may move into the southeast TX Panhandle, which may be needed to spark some of the more robust showers/storms. Based on forecast soundings storms are expected to be high based limiting a threat for tornadoes. However, some CAPE values reaching upwards of 1100-1200 J/Kg may be realized along with bulkshear around 35 kts leading to a risk of large hail upwards of half dollars. Straightline winds will be a potential risk as well with the high based storms and DCAPE around 1000 J/Kg. All in all, the period for strong to severe storms in the far eastern counties, maybe two stacks of counties, is looking to be short. Around an hour or two in the afternoon before storms quickly move east into western OK.

Tomorrow night, under northwest flow, some additional moisture at H5 is looking to be present. Several CAMs are trying to spark some showers across the Panhandles moving from the northwest to southeast. However, the surface is to remain dry with these showers utlimately be ending up as virga. A few isolated areas may end up with a hudredth or two, but leaning towards mainly sprinkles at best. For this reason, do not have any mentionable PoPs. Will continue to monitor and adjust the forecast to at least mention sprinkles if not a slight chance PoPs if trends continue.

LONG TERM

(Sunday through next Thursday) Issued at 1248 PM CDT Fri May 8 2026

After Sunday, going into the work week, the combined Panhandles are looking to come under a decent ridge. This ridge is expected to have H5 heights rising to around 590dam allowing for some triple digits to be realized on Tuesday. Tuesday may be the warmest, but above average temperatures are expected to persist from Mon thru Thu. The ridge may become weaker by Thu with perturbations in the flow aloft possible, leading to a slight chance of storms. Only seeing PoPs around 15 percent at this time late Thu into Thu night. Beyond day 7, there have been some hints at a possible increase in rain potential, but thats still a ways out. Until then, looking to stay dry with drought persisting for now under some above average heat for this time of year through the extended period.

AVIATION

(18Z TAFS) Issued at 1248 PM CDT Fri May 8 2026

VFR conditions are expected to prevail through the 18Z TAF period. Might see some low end breezy winds around 15 kts gusting to 25 kts out of the north through 00Z Sat. Then winds are expected to drop off below 10 kts, eventually returning to the southwest by 12Z Sat. Expecting mostly clear skies with a few high clouds.

AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

TX...None. OK...None.